1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is heaters for towels and more particularly an electric towel warmer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The advantages of having a warm towel available when stepping from a warm shower or bath is well known. Such a warm towel offers greater comfort and in some countries it is quite common to find steam heated towel heaters or warmers in hotels and motels. Moreover, with hotels and motels competing with each other for business, such competition often revolves around the luxury items or services which a motel or hotel provides. In view of this competition for luxury items in hotels and motels, it has heretofore been proposed to provide an electric heater for towels which is particularly adapted for use in hotels or motels. Such a heater for towels is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,457,389.
The heater proposed in the patent referred to above includes horizontally disposed, spaced-apart plates, each of which has a heating element therein. Towels to be heated are placed between the plates and heated by the plates.
As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, the electric towel warmer of the present invention differs from this prior art electric heater for towels by providing a generally upright towel warmer having an electric heating element disposed in a substantially upright plane and a cover therefor which is sized and arranged to fit about the heating element in a generally upright position for supporting a towel draped thereover. In this way, the towel is heated from the inside out rather than the outside in. This construction and arrangement has the advantage of conserving heat, as well as electric power for generating the same since the towel supported on the cover surrounding the heating element serves as an insulator and serves to confine the generated heat within the area enclosed by the towel.